For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of
John chapters fourteen to seventeen. Some of it will be what I have already
written and some will be new. Therefore it may sometimes appear that I leave
off in the middle of a topic to be continued, since I have reached my daily
word count limit. We will also return to placing a blog posting daily for the
time being.
In order to follow this you ought to have read from the first
posting in the series – John 14 (One).
We continue from
our previous message.
We are created in God’s image and therefore, like
humans, Jesus also functions in a certain manner. He also has trade secrets and
success recipes in the depths of His being, which is why He bore so much fruit
while He was on earth. In this passage He invited His disciples, including you
and me, to enter these depths of His being and learn from Him. The more time we
spend with Him and the more intimate we become with Him and purposefully follow
His example, do what He did (obey) and not only listen, the more we will become
like Him and bear the fruit He bore, since He will then reveal (show) Himself
to us (John 14:21). It asks of us to let go of time-stealing idols and get
focussed on Him and the way He thinks, acts and produces results.
We must get in the same yoke with Him. "Come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light," (Matthew 11:28-30). In the
old days they used to put a new ox in the same yoke with an experienced ox so
he could learn from him. Jesus said that we must not be scared to get in with
Him, into Him, for he is gentle. If learning is hard and painful to us, we
probably are not learning from Him, but rather from a carnal or religious
master. We should therefore not desire the approval of people or measure our
performance by the reaction or response of people, but only assure that we have
done what the Lord wanted us to do, regardless of the results. People’s
opinions and our desire to be accepted can be cruel taskmasters and a hard yoke
to carry.
The word that Jesus uses in this passage is ‘remain’.
If we use Jesus as a spare wheel, just calling on Him when we are in need, we
cannot expect to bear fruit. Using the same example as in the previous message,
we would learn nothing by just popping
into the industry for a few moments when we feel guilty about not being
faithful, would we? We need to stay with Jesus, cherishing the desire and opportunity
to learn the maximum from Him and, through His presence and power, bear fruit.
It is also true that, if we are one with Jesus, people will notice His
overwhelming presence in us. Just His presence in us will already result in
good deeds, wise answers, caring attitudes and changed lives, without us having
to do anything consciously.
Remaining in Jesus is first of all a conscious
decision, second a discipline and third a challenge. We all have a choice of
how much we are prepared to give of ourselves. Do we only want to pop in or do
we want to stay? Once the decision is made it takes discipline to stay there
against the odds of all the outside forces attempting to get us to abort our
commitment, because if we remain there, we and our world will change. Lastly,
staying there takes faith in the only One who is able to keep us there.
Are you ready for the challenge to remain in Jesus and
bear fruit?
Lord, here I am.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth,
via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will
accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you
think others may benefit by it.
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